" YOU can help make a difference, get involved... "
PCO Press Room
Sponsors
Past Events
COP15
Link to PCO
Lesser Black-backed Gull
last update: Apr 21, 2009 10:27 AM
Latin name: Larus fuscus
Population: 680,000-750,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: Iceland, northern Scandinavia, and Russia east to the Taimyr Peninsula
Age/ life expectancy: 15 years
Wingspan: 135-155 cm
Length: 52-67 cm
Weight: 450-1100 g
Mating/Breeding: Nests are built by both birds on the ground in a colony on cliff tops, beaches or inland islands, but also on buildings. The nest is lined plant material. Generally 3 eggs are laid. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Eggs: 3 highly variable eggs (base colour white to red-brown, markings from none to grey-brown or red-brown streaks or blotches)
Hibernation: Icelandic birds migrate to Iberia and northwestern Africa, Scandinavian and European Russian birds migrate to the eastern Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea, and eastern Africa, and Asian Russian birds migrate to the western Indian coast and the coasts of southern Japan and South Korea. Some birds now winter on the eastern coast of the US.
Hunting Habits: hunting, scavenges, and engages in piracy
Feed on: fish, crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians, small mammals, birds, chicks and eggs, and increasingly feeding on rubbish dumps
Colour/Body: The adults have black or dark grey wings (depending on race) and back. The bill is yellow with a red spot which young peck at, inducing feeding. The head is greyer in winter. Young birds have scaly black-brown upperparts and a neat wing pattern. They take four years to reach maturity. Identification from juvenile Herring Gulls is most readily done by the more solidly dark (unbarred) tertial feathers.
Subspecies: L. f. fuscus - Baltic Sea, eastern Scandinavia. Mantle jet black; L. f. intermedius - Denmark, Netherlands, Norway. Mantle sooty black; L. f. graellsii - British Isles, Iceland, northern France. Mantle dark grey.
Interesting Trivia:
- At a Lesser Black-backed Gull breeding colony, immatures, nonbreeding adults, and failed and off-duty breeders form "clubs" near the colony, where they spend time "loafing," resting, and preening. In colonies where other gull species are mixed in, clubs tend to be composed of one species only.
